Meade Lightbridge 8" Dob

[acalow1989]

I've read many reviews for beginners buying their first telescope and I have come to the conclusion that this would be a good scope for me (lightbridge 8" dob).

I wondered if anybody has had any experience using this scope and if they have any advices for buying eyepieces/filters etc, that would complement this scope.

Any advice is welcome

If you want to suggest a different scope my budget is flexible around £400.

Adam

[kniclander]

you can get a 10" solid tube skywatcher for about that money. What is the point of a truss dob of that size? A solid tube will hold collimation better and is cheaper.

[John]

Hi Adam,

I agree with kniclander - I have a Lightbridge 12" and the truss design starts to make some sense at that size but at 8" and 10" you might as well go for a solid tube design with lower cost and more stable collimation.

John

[dweller25]

Agree with John and Knic !

I just bought a 8" F6 Skywatcher dob (£269) and it's really good.

Buy three good Televue eyepieces - 32mm (x38 - £83), 15mm(x80 - £62) and 8mm(x150 -£70) and you will get years of enjoyment for around £485

[acalow1989]

Hey, that's some great advice thanks a lot. The dobs do seam really good value for money, which is my problem (if something seams too good to be true etc...). The eye pieces are expensive, but I've read enough reviews to know that you get what you pay for.

I will have a look at the sky watcher dobs right now.

BTW, does anybody have any experience with the SW explorer 200 (eq5), because i did consider that as well.

Adam

[acalow1989]

Sorry to be an pain, but do you have links to a UK store with those eye pieces.

cheers x

[John]

Sorry to be an pain, but do you have links to a UK store with those eye pieces.

cheers x

There you go:

TeleVue Plossl Eyepieces

You do get a couple of eyepieces with the scope I think - not as good as Tele Vue's but they will get you started.

John

[acalow1989]

Thanks a lot. It will come to just over £500 which is not bad I can't wait to buy it, I'm just waiting to finish my exams (2nd year Chemistry student) and then i'll buy it; don't want any distractions...

Do you know of any filters for DSO that would complement this scope?

Adam

[hal2000]

I agree with buying a solid tube dob, but, regarding the 8" lightbridge, a guy in our club owns one, and he gets round the collimation problem by never taking it apart, even when he is going out into the country. He just lifts the mirror box, with struts and secondary box still attached, and puts it in the back seat of his car, and puts the cradle into the boot. Quick tweak of the collimation when he arrives and Bob's your uncle.

[acalow1989]

Speaking of eye pieces, has any one ever used any of these:

Meade 4000 Series Eyepiece & Filter SetAccessories | Rother Valley Optics

They come as part of a Meade eye piece kit, just wondered if it was worth the money etc..?

[dweller25]

Forgot to mention ....

One big advantage of the solid tube dob is that you can easily put it on an equatorial mount in the future.

Sorry don't know about the eyepiece kit.

Best regards,

[kniclander]

My own (very humble) opinion is to avoid the eyepiece sets and spend the cash on one or two better e/ps. Most observing is done at low power (faint fuzzies) or high power( double stars moon and planets) and I for one tend to have a fave e/p for each. If you have lots of e/ps you'll either not use most of them or spend lots of time faffing about changing them and refocussing etc etc. i suspect that this is quite an individual thing so be prepared for different views.............. (ducks and runs for cover)

[dweller25]

My own (very humble) opinion is to avoid the eyepiece sets and spend the cash on one or two better e/ps. Most observing is done at low power (faint fuzzies) or high power( double stars moon and planets) and I for one tend to have a fave e/p for each. If you have lots of e/ps you'll either not use most of them or spend lots of time faffing about changing them and refocussing etc etc. i suspect that this is quite an individual thing so be prepared for different views.............. (ducks and runs for cover)

Yes, I am just the same. I buy very specific eyepieces to suit my observing style - mostly high power planetary.

And lets face it - half the fun is the decision making process

[acalow1989]

That make sense, it would be hard to put a light bridge on an equatorial mount and maintain balance.

http://www.2astro.dk/images/Forum/Meade_Lightbridge_EQmount.jpg

That looks like it would but the mount under stress..but i guess they know best.

The skyliner 200 claims to have a highest practical power of 400x, is this achievable practically?

[albedo0.39]

He just lifts the mirror box, with struts and secondary box still attached, and puts it in the back seat of his car

Wished I had the car and muscles to do that often...

[dweller25]

The skyliner 200 claims to have a highest practical power of 400x, is this achievable practically?

I have used it at x342 (equatorially mounted) and the image of Saturn was sharp - this was with no jetstream overhead which will spoil the view. I could easily see the Cassini division in Saturns rings.

Earlier that evening I collimated the scope at x600 with sharp diffraction rings.

In Dob mode about x200 will be the upper limit as you will have to nudge the scope quite quickly to follow the planets.

I am quite impressed with this scope.

[Doc]

A bit late but I also agree with the solid tube idea. I would always go with a solid tube dob if it was 10" or below.

At 12" things start getting a little big to handle and store so a truss dob is the way to go.

[Scuba]

Hi Adam.

As regards eyepieces. I bought an eyepiece set when I first started buying telescopes etc several years ago. It wasn't the Meade set but an equivalent. I can't really fault it for the price and as a "get you started" buy. However knowing what I know now I'd go dwellers route.

Over a period of time I've bought three Televue eypieces and added a x3 Televue barlow and a x2 Televue Powermate. This gives you an eyepiece selection of at least 9 different mags. More if you use the X3 and x2 doubled up. Don't know if you can double up the barlows as the magnification would be enormous. Probably unusable.

Going this route gives you eyepieces that "you" have chosen and use frequently.

Televue equipment, even at basic level, gives you second to none quality.

If you ever upgrade and do come to sell it you will probably get back what you paid for it.

Eyepiece selection is one of the few choices I've made in astronomy gear were I would have made the same decision now as then.

The only time I now use my old eyepiece kit is when I have my grandchildren round for a family star party. Sticky fingers and excitement in under fives don't mix well with optical glass.

Worked for me.

Clear skies.

Dave.

[kd001]

Hi,

I'm new here and I was looking to buy an 8" Dobsonian. However, I couldn't find anywhere that sells the 8" F6 Skywatcher dobsonian which was recomended above. I bought my previous telescope from TelescopeHouse but they onyl seem to have the Meade Lightbridge.

Also, my current telescope has an equatorial mount. How exaclty does a dobsonian work (sorry if this seems stupid but I am still relatively new to star gazing). I mean is it easy to locate astronimical objects?

Thank you very much for your advice,

Kevin

[dweller25]

Hi,

I'm new here and I was looking to buy an 8" Dobsonian. However, I couldn't find anywhere that sells the 8" F6 Skywatcher dobsonian which was recomended above. I bought my previous telescope from TelescopeHouse but they onyl seem to have the Meade Lightbridge.

Also, my current telescope has an equatorial mount. How exaclty does a dobsonian work (sorry if this seems stupid but I am still relatively new to star gazing). I mean is it easy to locate astronimical objects?

Thank you very much for your advice,

Kevin

Dobsonians - Skywatcher Skyliner 200P Dobsonian

Dobs are the simplest mount going, no electronics, you just push it round and point it to wherever you want - no tracking either.

[kd001]

Dobs are the simplest mount going, no electronics, you just push it round and point it to wherever you want - no tracking either.

So its not possible to locate objects using coordinates from a chart? Doesn't that make it almost impossible to locate objects that are difficult to locate with the naked eye? Also the reason I wanted to go for an 8" was to use high magnification powers but with no tracking this would also be almost impossible. In my case would I be better off with an equatorially mounted telescope then? (Although equatorial 8" telescopes seem to be much more expensive).

[dweller25]

So its not possible to locate objects using coordinates from a chart? Doesn't that make it almost impossible to locate objects that are difficult to locate with the naked eye? Also the reason I wanted to go for an 8" was to use high magnification powers but with no tracking this would also be almost impossible. In my case would I be better off with an equatorially mounted telescope then? (Although equatorial 8" telescopes seem to be much more expensive).

Not impossible but you do need to learn the sky.

If you want to observe the planets at high magnification a driven EQ mount makes much more sense.

[acalow1989]

Well, if you take the example of Galileo and Newton, both great scientist who had no coordinates what so ever and that was the attraction. The thrill of observing which they had can be felt by any one. This is why I think go-to scopes are not the best for beginners, surely the thrill of astronomy is in the discovery of unknown objects. Even though most objects that can be seen with a 8" dob will have been descovered, if you've never seen an image of them before it will seam like you have discovered them in your own way. Which is kinda-cool if you think about it.

Who agrees?

[Doc]

It takes time and patience but eventually you will learn where most of the messier objects are.

The best way to do it is fit a telrad to your scope then use a red torch with a star chart and learn to star hop to your required destination.

I willl not kid you it's pretty hard under our light polluted skies but once you find your object the sense of achievement makes it worth it.

[kd001]

If you want to observe the planets at high magnification a driven EQ mount makes much more sense.

With my current 114mm equatorial telescope with slow motion controls, I can track planets manually quite easily. Is this so much more difficult to do with a dobsonian (compared to a manual equatorial mount I mean).